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  2010: Third anniversary 2009: 2nd time's a charm 2008: First anniversary 2007: Here we go!

It has already been a year. Time goes by so fast… The “60 Signers for the 60th Anniversary” Initiative is a year old but it is like it was yesterday. It was a great experience and I had the opportunity to meet with very interesting people. The heads of the organizations who signed the initiative such as Mary Robinson (Member of The Elders), Geneviève Garrigos (President of Amnesty International France – AIF), Jacques Hintzy (President of the French National Committee for UNICEF), Stéphane Hessel (Ambassador of France, Participant in drafting the Universal Declaration of Human Rights), François Zimeray (Ambassador for Human Rights), Jean-Marie Fardeau (Paris Office Director, Human Rights Watch – HRW), Souhayr Belhassen (President of the International Federation for Human Rights – FIDH), Pierre Sané (Assistant Director-General for Social and Human Sciences, UNESCO), Francisco Galindo Velez (UNHCR Representative for France), Yves Berthelot (Chairman of the French Comité for the…⇒ READ MORE

The plights in Darfur, Congo and Burma are different on many aspects but the initiatives launched by organizations (human rights, humanitarian, etc) all have the same goal: help the people living in danger and provide them assistance when needed. As you may already know, I truly think Tall oaks from little acorns grow, nevertheless I am not naive and I know the hard work and the perseverance of people of good will offer a glimmer of hope, although the changes take at least years, decades or even centuries to be seen. On the other hand, like I said in Darfur: a World Wide Role Playing Game, willing to do the good is not always paying. It seems like without having to spell things out, activists, aid workers and volunteers are sometimes overtaken by the events and they hardly hide their growing weariness and tiredness for the situation behind their facade of…⇒ READ MORE

June 09: Initiative fulfilled – Read the press release for more information Last November, I launched the ’60 Signers for the 60th Anniversary Initiative’ on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, to support the Every Human Has Rights Campaign initiated by The Elders. As you may have easily noticed, the landmark U.N. document is still not fully respected around the world. This Declaration sets basic minimum international standards for the protection of the rights and freedoms of the individual and I thought this 60th anniversary was the perfect occasion to ‘do something’. My humble contribution consisted in creating an artwork and to invite 60 members of various organizations and personalities involved into human rights to sign the art work, as well as ‘ordinary’ people taking action toward the goals of the Universal Declaration. Easier said than done… You have to be patient to get all…⇒ READ MORE

The world is complex and the more we try to simplify it, the more difficult it is to see the large picture in its full complexity per se. This rule is applicable to politics, religion, sciences, economy and to our daily life. Oversimplifying a situation or an issue by making hasty generalizations will undoubtedly lead to inaccurate conclusions. And basing a broad conclusion upon unrepresentative or insufficient statistics or facts will lead to a rhetorical result ; each story or new situation helps to build a more in-depth and more nuanced picture of a crisis. Unfortunately, we live in a world facing many issues and we are often overtaken by events (News cycle turnover, our today’s worst enemy?) so we tend to care more about our own problems and we want to get quick answers to the many questions we ask to ourselves. This is when come the inconsistencies, preconceived…⇒ READ MORE

Yes, I know, I am late. Well, not yet. Before writing this post, I read the one I posted last year, on December 31st 2007: Tall oaks from little acorns grow and nothing has really changed since then… I mentioned the plight in Darfur, Aung San Suu Kyi in Burma, and several crisis (environment, food, economics…) threatening us. And I am afraid to see things didn’t changed, but some of them (should I say most of them?) even got worse. In October, in the post: Original Fake Kaws Cat Teeth Bank against global crisis I was sharing my feelings about the financial crisis we are facing and the consequences in the coming months. Although I am always a bit cynical, I was trying to play down the importance of the situation as our economy falters but it is getting harder each time to stay optimistic and only see the bright side…⇒ READ MORE